App Watch: DoubleTwist Strives To Be ‘iTunes for Android’

San Francisco startup DoubleTwist has unveiled a free media player app that seeks to beef up the music credentials of phones running Google’s Android OS.

DoubleTwist

The DoubleTwist Media Player app for Android.

The standard music-playing software that comes with Android “doesn’t even match what Apple’s iPod had in 2001,” says DoubleTwist’s CTO Jon Lech Johansen – a.k.a. DVD Jon. Android phones don’t come with software to organize your music collection, or sync standard features like playlists and ratings between your phone and computer. As a result, “people don’t see Android as a media device,” says Johansen.

The new DoubleTwist Player, which is free, promises to sync up your phone with its companion media management software for PCs and Macs, offering the closest thing yet to the iTunes/iPhone combo that have been so successful for Apple. The DoubleTwist software even allows you to even import playlists from iTunes, if you’re making the switch from iPhone to Android.

While the app doesn’t do much more than the standard media player on the iPhone, it does include a few design features that long-time iPhone users might appreciate, such as bigger type for song titles and easy access to star ratings without the need to load a separate menu.
In future versions of the app, which may charge money for special features, Johansen says he plans to add features like wireless syncing between your computer and handset on the same network, and an in-app music buying store.

Google

The default music player for Google’s Android handsets.

Since it was unveiled last Wednesday, the app has been downloaded about 50,000 times, the company says.

Google itself could yet shake up the way Android handles music. At its I/O conference in the spring, Google said it would add music to its online marketplace that currently sells apps.